Gaps in menopause care push some Canadians to pay out of pocket – CBC

Virtual and in-person clinics offer quick access to care that can be hard to find in public system

Feb 03, 2026

Some Canadians are paying out of pocket for menopause care from a host of private practitioners opening clinics outside the public health-care system.

Aidan Brame, a 46-year-old woman from Nanaimo, B.C., is one of them.

“What drove me to seek help was frozen shoulder, but also hot flashes at night — just feeling really down and lethargic,” she told Dr. Brian Goldman, host of White Coat, Black Art.

Brame said she read an article in National Geographic linking frozen shoulder to menopause, but when she mentioned that to her family doctor, “it was dismissed completely.”

“He did order an ultrasound, which I still haven’t gotten yet,” said Brame. “It’s been almost a year.”

When she pushed for hormone replacement therapy, her doctor eventually prescribed estrogel, said Brame. He also referred her to a menopause specialist, “but that was a year’s wait to get to see that person.”

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/whitecoat/private-menopause-clinics-in-canada-9.7067244